I just can’t get behind
this book. I don’t like being mean on reviews, but this is such a serious topic
that I’m afraid my review will come out a little mean. So, warning ahead (and
apologies in advance):

Warning: slightly mean
review. Probably best not to read it if you loved the book. If you do read it,
though, please don’t curse me.

“This is Where It Ends” is
a NYT best seller, and I can understand why this book was on that list. It has
a lot of strong elements that could make a great story (and there are plenty of
reviewers who think it did make a great story): a strong concept, a topic that
will sure touch the heart of many people, a diverse cast of characters and good
writing. The problem I had with this book was its execution. I don’t understand
why this book was written the way it was.

For fifty-five minutes, we
watch a student shoot his fellow classmates and teachers. And that’s about all
that happens.

Don’t get me wrong here. I
am terrified of this type of situations. I’m not American (not that I’m saying
this only happens in the U.S.A, but it sure happens a lot there), and I’ve
never gone through something similar, but thinking about all the horrible
shootings that had happened still makes me want to cry. That was something I expected
from this book, too… But it failed to touch me on that level.

I admire the author’s idea
and the risks that come with writing a book about school shootings, but unfortunately
this book brought nothing new to the picture. At times, I felt like I was
reading the news. It didn’t have any depth. It was just four people talking
about a lunatic with a gun. I still don’t know who those people really were. I
sure as heck don’t know why the shooter acted the way he did—sure there was a
motive thrown in there, but it didn’t feel realistic. The way I see it, he was
just a lunatic with a gun. That’s it. And that’s so not what I wanted from
this.

I expected so much more
from this story. In fact, I expected a story, and not a retelling of facts that
we (unfortunately) see on the news more often than any of us wish we did. I wanted
to see the shooter break… I wanted to understand what made him break. Truly.
Not what was given to us in a rush. I know some people are uncomfortable with
the idea of having the shooter’s POV (I might be one of them), so I’m not saying
we needed that. But we needed to experience what drove a boy who protected his
little sis to grab a gun, lock dozens of students and teachers inside a room
(his little sis, included) and simply shoot them.

And there was so much
death. The fact that I didn’t know those characters made it even worse. Not
because I couldn’t feel anything when they were shot and killed… I did. I felt many
things. Sadness. Anger. Grief. But not exactly for those characters. It was for
everyone who’s ever died from mass shootings. For all the innocent lives lost.
While I have to congratulate the author for evoking those feelings (see the 2 stars up there), those still
weren’t directed to the characters in her book, which makes me think there’s
something seriously wrong with the story.

While I don’t disapprove of the
choice to have four POVs, I can’t say I connected with them, either. I didn’t
like Autumm at all. I’m sorry, I just… I couldn’t get behind her. There were
too many situations where her actions just made me dislike her instantly. I won't go into details because of spoilers, but let's just say that as her sister and, apparently, the main reason he was there shooting innocent people, she should've tried harder to stop that before he made all those victims.

Claire just didn’t do anything for me.

Sylv and her brother were a bit better. But I still expected more from their connection. I think Tomas was a better character than his sister, though she was the one in the spotlight with Autumm. When it came to those siblings, Tomas' feelings were a bit more clear than Sylv's. I definitely expected a different reaction from her in the end.... Or better yet, I expected a reaction, but I don't think she had one and that was a major WTF moment.

Something else that stood out was how slow and innefective the cops were. I mean... the shooter terrorized the school for almost an hour and no police? Seriously? I mean... Seriously? Nope.

I could’ve ignored all (or most) of
this if the story had brought something… anything different or unique. I needed
more. I needed something different from news report or the things we can find
on Google or Wikipedia. I realize this is harsh, but if you’re going to touch
such an important subject, you can’t just play safe. You need to make sure
readers understand why this book was written. You need to add layers and
layers, and with this book, I couldn’t find one.

*If you liked this review (or not), if you read the book (or not), come say hello and leave your comments bellow.

Friday, October 28, 2016

Sexy, brooding cowboys are fine in the movies, but in real life, I prefer a suit and tie. Proper manners. A close shave.

Jack might be gorgeous, but he’s also scruffy, rugged, and rude. He wants nothing to do with a “rich city girl” like me, and he isn’t afraid to say so.

But I’ve got a PR job to do for his family’s farm, so he’s stuck with me and I’m stuck with him. His glares. His moods. His tight jeans. His muscles.

His huge, hard muscles.

Pretty soon there’s a whole different kind of tension between us, the kind that has me misbehaving in barns, trees, and pickup trucks. I’ve never done anything so out of character—but it feels too good to stop.

And the more I learn about the grieving ex-Army sergeant, the better I understand him. Losing his wife left him broken and bitter and blaming himself. He doesn’t think he deserves a second chance at happiness.

Stats whiz Kayla Moriarity knows her way around
numbers and algorithms. Men, on the other hand, are unsolvable equations. Now
Kayla’s en route to her sister’s wedding—alone and without the fictional
boyfriend she invented for her family. Fortunately, her plane comes complete
with complimentary cocktailsand a ridiculously hot ex-marine in the
seat beside her. And that’s all it takes for Kayla’s inhibitions to go sailing
out the airlock...

Cooper Shillings has soft spot for people in
trouble, but he certainly wasn’t expecting to land in it himself—and definitelynot while getting naughty mid-air with a
sexy southern belle. When he hears Kayla’s predicament, however, he offers his
services as a stand-in boyfriend. After all, he’s heading overseas soon...and
how could he refuse a little no-strings wickedness?

It’s the perfect plan. And all Kayla has to do is ensure her family falls for the ultimate bluff, without falling for it—and Cooper—in the process...

Let me just say that the
beginning of this book reminded me a lot of Jennifer Blackwood’s Landing the
Air Marshal, also from Entangled Brazen. In both books, we have a heroine who’s
terrified of flying (I can totally relate) and a hero who’s willing to help her
through it with, let’s call it, unorthodox methods… meaning, a little bit of
sexy times. Not complaining here.

But that’s where the similarities
ended.

In “Temporarily Yours”,
we have Kayla as the main character. She’s heading to her sister’s wedding and
getting ready to face her family and their non-stop questions about her
(inexistent) love life. Kayla is single, and she wants to stay that way. She’s
busy with her career and comfortable in her own skin. She doesn’t need a man to
make her life complete. Go, girl!

Still, her family is
always pushing her toward finding a partner, and Kayla is tired of all that. So
she comes up with a solution: she pretends to be dating someone. The only
problem is having a pretend boyfriend can be really tricky when she needs him
to accompany her to the wedding.

Kayla’s lucky girl,
though. While she’s freaking out at the airport before boarding her flight—she hates
flying about as much as I do—she meets Cooper. He’s traveling on business—in a
matter of days, the ex-marine will be traveling overseas for a new job. Cooper
and Kayla hit it off and, once he realizes she’s terrified of flying, he
upgrades his seat to first class just to sit near her and distract her. Sweet,
huh? His distraction methods? Not so sweet.

From there on, Cooper
and Kayla start a steamy romance that is meant to last just one night… or a
couple of days, when Cooper offers to be her fake boyfriend.

But as Cooper and Kayla
get to know each, they start falling in love. Again, sweet. And sexy.

That’s the best way to
describe this story. We have a quick read, with likable characters, a famous
trope (fake relationship), some tension and a lot of sexy times. We also have
sweet moments between Kayla and Cooper as they get closer and realize their feelings
for each other aren’t fake at all.

Again, Entangled Brazen
managed to deliver on what it promised, because “Temporarily Yours” is a fun
and sexy book you can read in a couple of hours and finish it with a smile on
your face.

*If you liked this review (or not), if you read the book (or not), come say hello and leave your comments bellow.

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Almost
twenty years ago, earth shook from explosions that killed billions, and wiped
away civilization. Only a small part of the city of Boston remained intact.

To Morta Fox, a twenty-year-old girl living all
alone outside the Wall of Protection, waking up with a craving for blood is
something she never imagined could happen. To make matters even worse, a
vampire who calls himself Hammer takes away her last attempt at
self-destruction.

Hammer has
been chasing Everard – the vampire last seen with his missing mate – for a
year. Right before he finds him, he witnesses a girl jump off the tenth floor
of a building. Though her bones break, she heals just as fast. When she stands
up, she runs as fast as only vampires can. But she can’t possibly be one,
because…she has a beating heart.

When
Hammer saves Morta against her will, she’s furious. Until he proposes a deal.
If Morta agrees to help him find her Lord Everard, Hammer will, in return, kill
her. It’s a simple deal. They even make a promise, and in the vampire world,
promises cannot be broken.

Nothing
goes as planned. Morta soon discovers that her beating heart is not the only
thing that makes her unusual, and Hammer is the only one who is willing to
protect her. Being equally stubborn, it takes a long time for them to admit
that constantly saving each other from harm has nothing to do with their deal,
and everything to do with how they feel.

By the time that happens, Morta’s part of the deal
is completed, and Hammer has only seven days left to fulfill his. What happens
to a vampire when he doesn’t keep his promise?

Yes, I am one of those people anxiously waiting for paranormal romance to
make a comeback. Vampires, shifters, angels and ghosts. All of it. In YA, New
Adult and Adult. Just gimme all.

That’s why I jumped on the chance to read this paranormal romance. While
it wasn’t as thrilling, innovative and angsty as I wanted it to be, it was
still entertaining.

This is the story of Morta Fox (in Portuguese, morta means dead so… yeah, funny and weird) and how
she handles becoming a vampire. In a world destroyed by bombs that mysteriously
went off and wiped away civilization, Morta tries to stay away from the rest of
the survivors…living her life alone. Until one day she has a run in with a
weird being that turns her into a monster: a vampire.

Terrified of what she becomes, Morta tries to end her life, but fails
every single time. She then meets Hammer, an experienced vampire who’s looking
for the monster who turned Morta. In exchange for her help in locating “her
Lord”, he promises to kill her. Until the moment he decides he can’t kill her at
all, because he's fallen in love with her.

I was expecting a couple of things from this book: a new take on
vampirism, lots of action and a super strong romance.

The author did try a few new things with the vampires she presented,
especially with Morta, since she was a different kind of monster. I won’t get too much into that because of spoilers, but let’s just say Morta
is the kind of vampire other vampires fear. It was interesting to see some of
the things that made Morta unique, mainly because it was what set this story
apart from others books with the same theme.

As to the action scenes, there were a few good moments filled with
tension. I wasn’t a big fan of how often Morta and Hammer found themselves
surrounded by enemy and running away from them, but I understood the author was
trying to keep things moving… it just didn’t have to be so literal, you know? Some
of those scenes ended up being repetitive.

Last but not least, I think the reason I can’t rate this higher is
because I just couldn’t connect with the romance. Often, the romance is what
makes or breaks a book for me (unless I’m reading a mystery/thriller or a book
that has no romance subplot). But in paranormal romance, I expect the romance
to make me feel everything at the same time. I want to suffer with the
characters, love when they love, hate when they hate, and all that. Unfortunately,
that didn’t happen here.

And when it comes to paranormal with a hate-t0-love relationship, which
seemed to be what the author was going for with Morta and Hammer, the bar is set
high because I’m a Jericho Barrons-MacKayla Lane child. If you’re characters
are fighting, I want to see the sexual tension, the desperation, the snarky
comebacks and everything else. Again, it wasn’t happening here.

Morta and Hammer fought a lot, but the tension between them was missing.
The dialogue often felt forced, and I felt like most of the time Morta was just
being stubborn for the sake of it. Hammer also didn’t reach his potential as an
alpha, and he wasn’t a good beta, either. I have problems with characters that
fall in between, especially in paranormal. That’s a genre where I want all my
love interests to be alphas, and Hammer had potential to be a good one. He just
didn’t captive me the way I wanted him to. Neither did Morta. I didn't dislike her. In fact, I could understand her desperation and I thought it was touching that she cared so much about not hurting people that she was desperate to stop herself from turning into a monster. I just wish I could've connected with her...

I also wish I could’ve liked this more than I did.

Having said that, if you’re a paranormal
romance fan, check the other reviews on Goodreads before you make a
decision about this book, because other readers are rating it four and five stars.

*If you liked this review (or not), if you read the book (or not), come say hello and leave your comments bellow.

It starts with a stolen
kiss under an English sky, and it ends with a walk down the aisle. It starts
with the President sending his best friend to woo me on his behalf, and it ends
with my heart split in two. It starts with buried secrets and dangerous desires…and
ends with the three of us bound together with a hateful love sharper than any
barbed wire.

My name is Greer Galloway, and I serve at the
pleasure of the President of the United States. This is the story of an American Queen.